View from the top

[PhilipM]

I took this shot leaning over a cliff, a hundred feet or so straight down (or up, if down makes you feel queasy). Liked the colours. I cropped, brightened and sharpened slightly (below). Any other ideas on what could be done with the original? All C&C welcome.

[ktuli]

Philip,

I like the original a lot! The colors are fantastic! Keeping the cliff in as a foreground element helps to give a little sense of scale.

The one thing I didn't like about the cropped version is how the deep blue water got eliminated, I liked how that gave a continued sense of the next ledge's drop off (underwater). It also gave a bit of balance to the shadows at the bottom of the frame.

How about a vertical format crop right up the middle - perhaps cut off a fifth of the frame from both the right and left sides? Or hopefully you took a vertical orientation shot and can share that....

This would definitely be an interesting shot if you had an eastern or western facing cliff and shot it at sunrise or sunset respectively to change up how those shadows worked.

- Bill

[PhilipM]

Thanks Bill,

Sorry, no vertical orientation taken . I like your point about the cliffs. I have tried a vertical crop taking more off the left than the right to keep the cliffs in. I feel the sea at the top might be dominating too much now.


P.S. I hope to be back in that part of the country later this year. I'll have another go.

[jiro]

Nice shot, Philip. More than that, I admire your guts taking a shot overlooking the cliff. I think, in my limited understanding, what I seem to look or looking for as an additional element to your shot is the sense of scale. I can sense the height (but not in a very relative way). If there is something in the foreground, like a portion of your shoes or feet, then that will definitely fill in the missing piece on the illusion or perception of depth on a 2-dimensional image. Just another wild idea I got from looking at mountaineering magazines and books maybe. I like the way you edited the colors on the 2nd image and added some sharpness to it.

[Steve S]

I like the original as well...........just cloned out the birds and a little enhancement of the contrast / color/ sharpening.............

[PhilipM]

Thanks Jiro,

I see what you mean about the sense of scale. I guess if I hadn't said how high it was it would have been difficult to tell.

Thanks Steve for your edit.

[PhilipM]

As a matter of interest Steve, why did you choose to clone out the birds?

[Steve S]

They were so small that they distracted instead of adding to the view.